Sykes, Williams Notch Weekly Honors

INDIANAPOLIS -- Green Bay junior guard Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill./Marshall) has been named the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, while Detroit guard Jarod Williams (Danville, Va./George Washington) has been named the Freshman of the Week, for the week of Dec. 30-Jan. 5. The award is the fourth of the year for Sykes and eighth of his career, while Williams is collecting the honor for the first time.

Green Bay (11-3, 2-0 Horizon) wrapped a five-game homestand with its first two Horizon League victories, knocking off Cleveland State, 66-55, on Thursday, before overcoming Youngstown State, 85-69, on Saturday.

Detroit (8-8, 1-0 Horizon) closed its non-conference schedule with a 73-53 victory over Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 31 before stifling Wright State, 58-53, at Calihan Hall.

Sykes started the weekend by posting 15 points and grabbing five rebounds in Green Bay’s 11-point win against the visiting Vikings. On Saturday, the 5-11 point guard nearly recorded a triple-double, finishing with 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds versus Youngstown State. Going 9-of-16 from the floor, Sykes factored in 18 of Green Bay’s 38 field goals without a turnover.

The junior sits third in the conference with 19.5 points per game, while his 5.0 assists per game rank second. With eight career player of the week awards, Sykes is tied for second in Horizon League history, matching the effort of former conference standouts Darin Archbold (Butler), Alfredrick Hughes (Loyola) and Byron Larkin (Xavier). The all-time Horizon League record is 10, held by Detroit’s Rashad Phillips.

Starting his 11th and 12th games for Detroit, Williams notched 10 points in the Titans’ non-conference win over Bethune-Cookman, adding five rebounds. Scored 10 points with five rebounds and two assists against Bethune-Cookman. Williams followed up the effort with seven points, three assists and two blocks against Wright State. The freshman leads Detroit with 40 assists on the year.

Green Bay will wrap the non-conference portion of its schedule on Tuesday, Jan. 7, when the Phoenix travel to Chicago State for an 8:05 p.m. ET tip. The Phoenix will meet Horizon League rival Milwaukee on Sunday, Jan. 12, at 2 p.m. ET. The Horizon League Network will have live coverage of the game. Detroit heads to Cleveland State to open the week on Wednesday, Jan. 8 (7 p.m. ET, HLN), before hosting local rival Oakland on Saturday, Jan. 11 (7 p.m. ET, HLN) in the teams’ first meeting as conference foes.

Top Performers for the Week:

• Jordan Aaron, Milwaukee (Sr., G) - Opened the week with a 27-point effort in Milwaukee’s 82-76 win over Youngstown State. Aaron would add 15 points against Cleveland State, collecting five rebounds in both contests.
• Travis Bader, Oakland (Sr., G) - Scored 12 of his 20 points in the final 6:54 versus Valparaiso, including a 3-pointer from 35 feet to give the Grizzlies a late lead and the final go-ahead 3 with 50 seconds remaining, 73-70. Bader needs just 20 3-pointers to surpass J.J. Redick’s NCAA record of 458.
• Marc Brown, UIC (Jr., G) - Led UIC with 19 points in its Horizon League opener, the ninth time this season Brown has scored 10 or more points. Brown’s six rebounds against Valpo were a season high.
• Evan Bruinsma, Detroit (Sr., F) - Tallied his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the Titans’ win over Bethune-Cookman before notching a game-high 17 points to lead Detroit to a five-point win over Wright State.
• Anton Grady, Cleveland State (So., F) - Continuing to work his way back from a knee injury, Grady posted back-to-back double-doubles as Cleveland State went 1-1 on the road. Grady had 10 points and 10 rebounds against Green Bay before matching his season high with 19 points and 11 boards in the Vikings’ 77-49 win at Milwaukee.
• Duke Mondy, Oakland (Sr., G) - Matched his season high with 24 points in Oakland’s first Horizon League win. Mondy matched his career high with four 3-pointers in the victory. After recording steals against Wright State and Valparaiso, Mondy now has at least one in 14 straight games and 54 of his last 55 games.
• Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State (Sr., G) - Averaged 22.5 points per game with 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. With 31 points at Milwaukee, Perry posted his fourth 30-point performance this season and the seventh of his career, setting a YSU Division I record.

Men’s Basketball Player of the Week:
Nov. 11: Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State
Nov. 18: Steve McWhorter, Milwaukee
                Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Nov. 25: Alec Brown, Green Bay
Dec. 2: Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Dec. 9: Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
Dec. 16: Kelsey Barlow, UIC
Dec. 23: Travis Bader, Oakland
                Alec Brown, Green Bay
Dec. 30: Shawn Amiker, Youngstown State
Jan. 6: Keifer Sykes, Green Bay

Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Week:
Nov. 11: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Nov. 18: Kahlil Felder, Oakland
Nov. 25: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Dec. 2: Lexus Williams, Valparaiso
Dec. 9: Matthew Grant, Detroit
Dec. 16: Alec Peters, Valparaiso
Dec. 23: Kahlil Felder, Oakland
Dec. 30: Pat Birt, UIC
Jan. 6: Jarod Williams, Detroit